Frequently Asked Questions

Did I hear that the law on where you can marry in the
UK is being changed?

Yes and no! Back in January 2002, our government released a
consultation paper suggesting that England, Wales and Northern Ireland
could fall into line with Scotland, so that the celebrant would be
licensed rather than the venue. In practice this would mean that couples
could marry practically anywhere they liked, so long as the celebrant
made sure that the venue was safe, appropriate and open to the public
(no bungee jumping or sky diving, I’m afraid!).

Read what Helen had to say when she was
interviewed
by AP’s Beth Gardiner on this matter and found herself syndicated
around the world!

Unfortunately, the government decided to lump in the marriage bit with
everything else that needs changing with how we deal with registering
births, marriages and deaths and then how and who can access these
records. On top of that they decided to do this by an
’order’ under the ’Regulatory Reform Act 2001’
(which is really designed to tinker uncontroversially with existing
laws) rather than a ’real’ new law. And then they added
Civil Parnerships into the mix to add fuel to the fire.

The changes to the law were supposed to be put into practice by 2005
but the inevitable happened... too many problems in too many areas meant
that the changes to the wedding laws were abandoned and the only
survivor of the venture was the welcome introduction of Civil
Partnerships.